#28 - PEARL HARBOR raid - Hiryu's fighters

BII-101 was flown by a buntaicho - first wave. Lieutenant Kiokuma Okajima of carrier Hiryu, led his 6 fighters down to attack Ewa Field, through the rolling smoke, executing strafing attacks until ground fire holed the forward fuel tank of his wingman, Petty Officer 1st Class Kazuo Muranaka. When Okajima discovered the damage to Muranaka's plane, he decided that his men had pressed their luck far enough, and began to assemble his unit and shepherd them toward the rendezvous area some 10 miles west of Kaena Point.

BII-107 was flown by a wingman.

Zero over PH photo #1

BII-112 was flown by wingman, PO1c Kazuo Muranaka, Okajima's #2 wingman - first wave. Ewa Field's ground fire holed the forward fuel tank of this plane. His flight leader decided to leave the area and toward to rendezvous point.

BII-120 was flown by a wingman, PO1c Shigenori Nishikaichi - second wave. This plane was hit and belly landed at Niihau island.

PO1c Shigenori Nishikaichi photo #1PO1c Nishikaichi's plane was damaged by ground fire from Bellows Field. His plane was hit, and leaked fuel. Pilots with damaged planes were told to crash land at Niihau and await the arrival of an Imperial Navy I-class submarine assigned to rescue duty. The Japanese though the island was uninhabited. The islanders didn't known about the attack. Nishikaichi played on the Japanese-Americans loyalties, and won a islander to assist him with a plan for death with honor. He convinced him to steal back his pistol and a shotgun. The two took control of the village in the day on Friday, Dec 12, where they took two prisoners before stripping the machine guns off the crashed zero and stowing them on a wagon. They tried to destroy the plane, but the fire did not spread past the cockpit. They controlled the island until that night when "Ben" Kanahele and his wife, captured islanders, resisted. In the melee, Nishikaichi was killed by Kanahele.

BII-120 wreck photo #1The US military took the engine and propeller to Oahu for investigation. The burnt remains stayed on Niihau for 65 years and are now part of the exhibit about this event in the Pacific Aviation Museum, on Ford Island, within Pearl Harbor.

BII-120 wreck photo #2

BII-121 was flown by a buntaicho, Lt. Sumio Nono - second wave.

BII-124 was flown by a shotaicho. BII-124 pilot on 19 Feb 1942 was Itto (Hiko) Hei (Flyer First Class) Hajimi Toyoshima, but it NOT flown by Toyoshima at Pearl Harbor. Toyoshima was not a Shotaicho, but was being trained to be Shotaicho. On 19 Feb 1942, his Shotaicho did not fly and Toyoshima flew the Shotaicho plane. INFO CREDIT: David Aiken.

BII-128 was flown by a wingman.

BII-129 was flown by PO2c Makoto Sasaki, a leader of one CAP's shotai but he wasn't a shotaicho, only a wingman.